Tuesday, October 2, 2012

THE LUCKY ONE

The
Lucky One is the story of Marine, Logan Thibault, who finds a picture of woman, with the words “Keep Safe” written on the back, in Iraq. Not
only does the act of walking towards the picture save his life, but from the
moment Logan finds this picture his luck changes and she soon becomes his lucky
charm and guardian angel. When Logan
then survives several situations which should have left him dead, he decides to
somehow find this woman and thank her for saving his life. Logan locates Beth, a single mom still very
much under the thumb of her ex-husband, Keith.
Logan repeatedly tries to explain to Beth why he has come to find her,
but something always gets in the way, and before he can tell her the truth, Logan and Beth fall in love. Logan also
befriends Beth’s son, Ben. Beth soon
realises that Logan understands Ben much better than his own father does, and
also treats him better. A happy life
beckons Logan, Beth and Ben; and the only person not happy with this situation
is Keith - he is a Sheriff Deputy in town and his father is a powerful Judge
running for Mayor. Beth lives her life
knowing that any misstep she makes could cause her to lose her son to the powerful
Clayton family, so she numbly allows Keith to exert control over her life. The question is, now that she has found
Logan, will she allow Keith to destroy this precious chance of happiness? And what has the greater chance of destroying
their new-found happiness; Keith’s threats, or the true nature of Logan’s move
to Hamden?

Zac
Effron is the perfect Logan! He did the
character perfect justice and even added some depth to Logan. As for Taylor Schilling, she did a good job
with Beth, but as for the way the character was adapted for the film, I found
Beth to be much more likable in the book.
Little Riley Thomas Stewart was also a perfect Ben, and I love Blythe Danner
as Ellie - I just wish the character was as eccentric in the movie as she is in
the book. As for Keith, the movie
omitted so much of just what a jerk he is!
The movie didn’t even mention the fact that he had spiked Beth’s drinks
while they were together, leading to Beth sleeping with him and falling
pregnant, and ultimately marrying him.
Keith is a jerk beyond compare, but for some reason the movie softened
him up a little. And then, my major
complaint: Zeus. I am so disappointed
that he plays such a small role in the film.
In the book Zeus is a much more prominent character, and he hardly ever
leaves Logan’s side – in the movie he’s hardly ever with Logan. I understand it is difficult to work with
animals, but he deserved a bigger role. In
the book he is, after all, the one who saves Ben from drowning – also omitted
from the film.

As
is always the case with an adaptation, the book obviously had more depth; but
as far as adaptations go, The Lucky One was beautifully done. Overall, the film version does the book
justice.